


Kiss in the Midnight Crossroad

by RaychelRay



Category: Elena of Avalor (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:41:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21312832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaychelRay/pseuds/RaychelRay
Summary: "Because I love you." That's all Gabe had wanted to tell her, to make his feelings known before Carla disappeared from his life again. Are his feelings returned though?
Relationships: gabe nunez/Carla Delgado
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Kiss in the Midnight Crossroad

“Because I love you.”

Gabe felt like his heart was as heavy as his footsteps as he exited out of the roadside Inn.

He hadn’t expected for anything to come from this rash endeavour, but he had done it. He had been raised, after all, to never run from a fight, to stand his ground, and always speak his mind. How his father never considered he would become a solider based on this upbringing still baffled Gabe to this day.

Feugo acknowledged him from the Inn’s stables, always eager to see his rider. 

Gabe had originally planned to ride through the long night in order to make it back to Avalor.

However, it hurt. It hurt so much more than he had anticipated.

Perhaps it would be better to only ride for about an hour or so and find another Inn to sleep at for the night. Even a barn would be great at this moment.

“Nunez!” 

Gabe stopped dead in his tracks. He quickly turned on his heels to see Carla standing behind him. The hood she had had pulled up to cover her face was now down, revealing her long, wavy dark hair.

Gabe felt a slight glimmer of hope grow within him despite how furious she looked.

“You can’t just leave without hearing what I have to say!” Carla exclaimed.

Gabe simply nodded, waiting in anticipation.

But at first she said nothing, so only a long stretch of silence fell over them as they stood in the middle of the deserted crossroad.

Carla’s mouth moved, beginning and stopping so many sentences before she finally said, “When? How?”

Gabe couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, causing the furrow between Carla’s brow to deepen.

“Sorry, it’s just that, I can’t really say when–”

“Lair.”

“No, I being serious,” Gabe said as he held his hands out defensively. “I mean, I have a general idea, but I can't pinpoint the exact minute or second.”

When Carla didn’t reply, Gabe continued. “To be honest, I’ve been attracted to you since you were Rita.”

“Rita wasn’t real,” Carla said in a bitter tone, folding her arms tightly over her chest.

“Maybe not all of it, but the more time I’ve spent with you since you’ve been back as Carla and not as Rita, there are things I realized about you that seeped over, even when you were pretending.” 

Gabe smiled, “Like the way your nose crinkles when you eat something yummy, or how you have this unabashed confidence about you, but you squeal and freak out at the sight of a snake, and the way you stand up for yourself, like when you called Lieutenant Marco a ‘blithering, immature, rat’ because he kept making crass comments as all the servant girls.”

Carla’s eyes widened and gave him a look that said ‘How did you know?’

“It’s my job to know everything that goes on in the castle, no matter how sweet and innocent you tried to make yourself look,” Gabe replied with a smirk. “And for the record, I made him do at least 20 laps around the city, clear his head to teach him how to respect women.”

“Well, he got off easy then,” Carla said lowly, but Gabe could see the corner of her mouth twitch. 

Carla bit her lip. “Those reasons can’t be enough to make you love me.”

“Why not?” Gabe replied back with a shrug. “Why isn’t being in love having a million things you like about someone.”

Carla's eyes went down to the ground with a calculating expression in them, she was really trying to figure out an answer to what seemed so obvious to Gabe. Then again, they grew up with entirely different lives.

“Maybe it is,” Carla then said wistfully. “But it’s easy to think that when you’re the brave and humble knight-in-shining armor who always says and does that right thing.”

Gabe shook his head. “You’re no different, you just don’t see it: You broke allegiance with your mother because you couldn’t stand leaving your father behind. And when you had a chance to escape in the midst of the chaos, you chose to save Olivia and her family when she was in trouble. Not to mention you make a great Chief-of-the-Castle like you 'cousin' Armando.”  
Carla gave him a small smile before it quickly disappeared as she began to fidget with her necklace.

“I want to say it Gabe. I do.“ Carla shook her head. "But, even though I’ve parted with my father for now, and as much as I want to believe that love will conquer all…it doesn’t change everything Gabe.” 

Carla kicked a small pebble that was on the road.

“I can’t erase what I’ve done in the past and I can’t accept that I’ll just be welcomed back to the Castle by everyone with open arms, even with all the things I've done. That the Princess will invite me to slumber parties and people won’t look at me with disgust…”

“I know,” Gabe said immediately, even though he could feel a lump forming in his throat. It’s not like he wasn’t aware of the facts. There had been quite a few looks and remarks from his friends when he had told them that he was going after her.

“I won’t force anything on you, not ever. But, I just wanted to let my feelings be known.”

“Please stop,” Carla groaned as she buried her face in her hands. “Stop being so understanding, and handsome, and sweet. Because then you’ll make me think of how cute you look when you get flustered because you can’t dance, or how delicious those empanadas you make are, or how dense and rigid you become when you get all ‘commander.’”

Gabe felt the color rush to his cheeks, but couldn’t help to cheekily ask, “You really think my empanadas are good?”

Carla let out a breathy laugh.

A cool breeze then penetrated the air, blowing some her loose curls around her heart shaped face. God, she looked so beautiful this naturally elegant and relaxed way. Still, Gabe wasn’t distracted enough to not notice the way her shoulders shook from the sudden chill.

“You should get back inside,” Gabe said, motioning back to the brightly lit and still noisy Inn. “Get warm.”

Carla’s gaze then became sharp as she straightened her posture to be straight as a steel bar.

“No Nunez, I’ll decide when this conversation is over.”

Gabe felt his throat go dry from her commanding tone. "Yes ma'am.”

Carla herself looked practically pleased when he said that, though she tried to cover it up quickly.

“You really meant everything you just said?“

“110%”

Carla then let out a deep sigh as she closed her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ears.

“Well,” Carla said in a low, and almost husky voice. “My father did always say that I should weigh ALL my options before I ever make a decision.”

Gabe felt his heart rate suddenly begin to rise with each tentative step that Carla began to then take towards him.

When she was finally standing in front of him, Carla brought up her hands to cup his face.

Gabe could feel the slight tremble of her fingertips along his jawline. He swallowed dryly before he dared to slide his own hands over her slender hips.

Gabe was practically shaking in anticipation as he licked his lips. "If you change your mind–”

He didn’t have the chance to finish his sentence though as Carla slammed her lips against his.

Though it was clumsy as first, this wasn’t Gabe’s first kiss nor was it Carla’s he realized as they both quickly adjusted their head’s and body’s to a more satisfying angle so that he was able to taste the sweet wine that she had been drinking when he had first found her. Her hands moved down from his jawline and slipped underneath the collar of his uniform, her cold fingers felt searing against his hot skin.

Gabe wanted to be gentle and tender, she felt so small in his arms. But that was before Carla’s sharp nails suddenly raked down the back of his head, causing goosebumps to break across his skin as he crushed her petite frame against his sturdy one harder.

The force of his embrace caused Carla to break the kiss and gasp. She did not attempt to push out of his arms though. 

Carla instead gently smoothed down the parts of his hair the she had mussed up as she looked up at him with hazy and half lidded eyes.

Gabe swallowed hard at her arousing look and leaned forward to placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She let out a much smaller gasp when he pulled away and even dared to tilt her head up and kiss under his chin, right over his stubble.

“I think…I think I need more time to decide.” Carla said as she kept her eyes to the ground. “Perhaps in a more comfortable place.”

Now it was Gabe’s turn to tremble. “I don’t think that’s a good idea–”

“Not like that,” Carla cut in, while blushing a deep shade of pink. “I mean, maybe…if it feels right.”

Carla then rested her forehead on his chest and Gabe wouldn’t have been surprised if she could hear his heart beating so quickly and loudly.

“But, let’s just start with having dinner and talking, I guess.” Carla sighed, “My parents barely spoke a word to each other, other than to put on an act, and the room felt so heavy and tense because of it. And I’m starting to realize that I don’t want to be them. I want to be my own person.”

Gabe felt a broad from stretch across his face as he gently grabbed her chin, and tilted her head even further back so she had no choice but to look him in the eyes. “I think that sounds like an excellent idea.”

Carla’s eyes began to narrow down to their usual sly expression and the corner of her lip quirked up.

“Get comfortable Fuego,” Gabe called over his shoulder as he looped Carla’s arm threw his. “We may be here a while.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself Nunez,” Carla said coyly as she led him back towards the Inn. “The night is young and I could still throw you out of the street and leave.”

“That may be true.” Gabe gave her his signature wink, “But I like those odds.”


End file.
